May the Second Pass
by Sela McGrane
Summary: The end of the war has come. It's Hogwarts, May 2nd 1998. For the Wizarding World, this day would be remembered as the last day Voldemort's presence would be known. For Hermione Granger, one of the most horrible days of her life just wont end.
1. Chapter 1

**Erm, again, not Dueling. Part one of a twoshot. This is an idea that's been rolling around in my head for months, but until this afternoon (when it suddenly hit me) I had no idea how to actually but the idea into a readable story without it becoming too redundant. This is a timeturner fic, of a very unusual sort. I know I could have made this into a multi chapter story of serious length, but I'm trying to NOT start any more lengthy fics until I've finished at least some of the ones already started. Anyway, enough said. Warning, there may be tears, or at least a couple of sniffles. I had a hard time writing this one without crying. The entire part one is from Hermione's POV, though the entire part two will be from Minerva's, so if you're disappointed by the lack of actual Minerva in this part, rest assured I will make up for it.**

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Hermione Granger finally understood what Dumbledore had told her about witches and wizards who messed with time going mad. Of all the _stupid_ things to do, she had been wearing her timeturner, which contrary to popular belief she had _not_ returned to McGonagall after her third year, while engaged in the Battle of Hogwarts. After escaping the Room of Requirement, ablaze with Findefire, she'd fallen, landed on the blasted thing, and destroyed it via crushing it with her body weight. As crestfallen as she'd been at the loss of such an important magical artifact, the real impact hadn't hit until later.

She'd been helping with the wounded after the battle ended, when suddenly she felt the telltale pull of time travel, and a moment later Hermione found herself back at the exact moment she'd felt the timeturner crush beneath her. After finding herself in the same position for a third time, she'd managed to confirm exactly six hours passed between the time turner breaking and her being pulled back to the past. At first, this had been frustrating. After researching for twelve time loops in an effort to break the cycle, the screams of her friends dying in the halls beyond the library had compelled her to give in and ask for help.

Knowing the older witch had also used a timeturner before, Hermione went to Professor McGonagall. Every time that time reset, she recruited her Transfiguration teacher again, who was always more than willing to assist. It had been another fifteen hundred cycles, the equivalent of over six months of time, before they stumbled onto a possible answer. To Minerva's surprise (Hermione had come to call all the staff by name in her mind by this point) her young companion had _kissed her_ when the older witch had suggested it. It wasn't until after the fact that Hermione realized why – in six months' worth of spending time together, Hermione had fallen in love with the other woman. Dealing with _that_ would have to wait until after the loop was broken, and Hermione refused to even test the waters with Minerva during one of the loops between then and what she considered the present.

When the first timeturner had been created, it had been done by a Charms expert whose wife had been murdered. He created what would be the foundation of the eventually perfected device, and went back in time to save her. In the original version of the timeturner, the intention of the wizard or witch going back in time was a key part of the actual travel, and time would reset upon the completion of the wizard or witch's desire.

The loop had begun, she knew, when Hermione had landed on the time turner. At that particular moment, only minutes after Vincent Crabbe, Draco Malfoy's friend had died, she had been thinking that she did not want anyone she was close with to die in the coming battle. So, she figured, that meant that if in the space of one time loop, she could manage to save Snape, Lupin, Tonks, Fred, Colin and Lavender, then in theory the loop would _finally_ end. She both hated and loved the idea. It would mean meddling with time, something she'd been warned against, but it also meant saving all of them.

For the following six loops, Hermione shadowed each of the victims to be, watching their movements, and eventually witnessing the time, place, and the final mistake they would make. Watching her friends die was even harder than knowing they would. In the original timeline, she'd been helping Harry, and not been in a position to watch people she cared for be struck down. Hermione had wished she'd been there, then. Now, she wished she could forget the horrors she'd seen in the last seven months' worth of looping.

The next step to planning was another five loops of following herself, because she couldn't risk startling herself into making one of those _last mistakes_ by seeing a double of herself. Whatever she did to save the others would have to be without the notice of herself, or anyone who would cross her path in the course of the battle. In the midst of doing all that, she knew she had to allow time to brew the antidote to the poison that would kill Professor Snape. Technically, she didn't actually care about him enough to think _not_ saving him would stop the loop from ending, but knowing what he did for all of them left her feeling a bit indebted, and she wanted to at least try. After all, he was the first to die on her list, and if she ran out of time and couldn't save the others before the reset, she'd just start over and find a way to do it all quicker.

The last obstacle, which she'd finally solved after a total of another two thousand, eight hundred and twenty-six loops, had been the killing curse. Both Remus and Tonks had been killed by the unblockable spell, and Hermione couldn't bring herself to throw anyone else, wizard or witch, Death Eater or not, Light creature or Dark, in front of either of them. She would not trade one life for another. She'd thought she could throw debris in front of Remus and Tonks to protect them, but either the material was not enough to block the powerful curse, or the angle she threw it ended up hitting and killing someone on impact due to the mass. So, she had to come up with a spell to block the unblockable spell. That said, she wasn't the smartest witch of her age for no reason. It took her a good deal of time, but she believed it would be worth it. She only hoped she was right. Hermione was not fool enough to think that over eighteen months of living the same horrid six hours over and over again would not impact her. It was bad enough living through one war, and only a handful of battles. She'd lived the same battle thousands of times now.

It was time. She'd spent the last loop sleeping, setting her alarm to wake her an hour before the loop would start again, giving her time wake up and go to the kitchens for something to eat. After she finished up her cup of tea, she made her way back to the Room of Requirement. The impact of lurching through time was less if she was near the location where this loop had begun. Seeing the door of the Room of Requirement open, she looked at her clock. "Five, four, three, two, one…"

Hermione grunted for what seemed like the millionth time as her body crashed to the ground, and the time turner crushed under her. Just like every time before, she watched herself, Harry, Ron, Malfoy, and Goyle get up, not noticing the version of herself that would remain behind, and scurry away. As soon as they were clear, the part of her aware of the time loop finished materializing in the same spot she'd fallen, and Hermione was off.

She bolted in the other direct, toward the ground floor and the entrance to the dungeons. She made her way quickly to Snape's storeroom, grabbed the required ingredients, and then rushed into his personal lab. She laughed to herself, thinking how he'd be appalled if he knew it had taken her all of two hours to break his supposedly unbreakable wards. She glanced at the time as she began setting a cauldron on simmering heat. Five eighteen. Snape would be bitten by Nagini at ten after six, though it would take fifteen minutes more before he was too far gone to save. This potion took exactly twenty-five minutes to brew, bringing her to five forty-five by the time she bottled the antidote. From the dungeons, it would take twenty minutes to get down to the Boat House where he'd be bitten five minutes later. Of course, she couldn't help him until Voldemort was gone, and then she had to wait till Snape gave Harry the memories telling the Boy-Who-Lived what to do.

All of that happened according to plan, and as soon as Harry was far enough out of sight, Hermione rushed to her Professor's side. "Severus!" she snapped, slapping him across the face. She had to wake him up to get him to drink the potion. Hermione had to admit, slapping him was decidedly pleasurable after all the years he'd berated her in classes.

His eyes fluttered open as she was casting a few healing charms to stop the bleeding on his neck. The snake hadn't hit a major artery, but it was still a serious wound and loss of blood was not helping his condition. "Miss…Gran…ger?" he rasped.

She held up a vial. "Antidote. Don't you dare argue with me," Hermione said sternly. It would be just like him to have found death a relief after so many years anguish.

Snape considered her for a few seconds before opening his mouth, allowing her to pour the contents in his mouth. "Thank you," he whispered. "Though I don't know why you did this, or how."

"I'll explain later," she said, glancing at her watch and realizing she only had twenty minutes to get to the spot where Lavender would be killed by Greyback. It would take fifteen minutes to get there if she ran. "Get yourself to the hospital wing. You're out of the woods but you're going to need another dose in about three hours. The brew takes twenty-five minutes, and I've banished the directions and ingredients to Poppy's lab."

That said, she turned and bolted away, not even pausing long enough to see his perplexed expression. She _would_ explain it all to him – he'd be one of the few she'd trust to keep her secret.

Hermione had practiced this run dozens of times, and had already been in shape before this little adventure had begun. She made it to Lavender's position without even getting winded. By then, as she knew would be the case, Lavender was already engaging Greyback, but he'd not managed to injure her yet. With Severus, she'd had a bit of wiggle room time wise, but if Lavender got bitten, she may not thank Hermione for saving her at all. Lavender was no Remus, and she doubted her dorm-mate would be able to cope with becoming a werewolf.

"Lavender, drop!" Hermione yelled.

As she had during the three test runs Hermione had done of this particular save, Lavender did has she was told, falling to the ground with no hesitation, leaving Hermione clear to hit Greyback with a particularly nasty hex she'd, ironically, borrowed from Severus. The impact of _Septumsempra_ caused the werewolf to howl in pain. She'd never stayed and watched to see if he died or lived before, and she didn't now. Lavender was already moving back toward the castle with a quickly uttered thanks, and Hermione didn't give two shits if Greyback lived or died; not knowing what he'd already done to Remus.

Again, Hermione checked her watch. Six forty-five.

Remus and Tonks would be next, in another twenty minutes. Hermione allowed herself a couple of minutes to rest before trudging to where she knew her former Defense was meant to meet his end. A Death Eater would fire at Tonks, and Remus would jump in front of the curse to protect her. As soon as Remus was down, the same bastard would fire again at his original target, taking a second life in as many minutes.

Not this time.

As soon as she saw the Death Eater lining up his shot, and Remus jumped in front of Tonks, Hermione leapt out and jumped in front of him.

"Hermione, no!" Remus screamed.

The girl in question merely flicked her wand, silently raising her modified shield. What Hermione had realized during her long research was that the Killing Curse could not be _blocked_ , though it could be – like with Harry and Voldemort all those years ago – reflected back to the caster. Which is exactly what happened. Hermione thoroughly enjoyed the look of disbelief on the Death Eater's face when his own _Avada Kadavra_ bounced back and impacted him in the chest. He would never even have time to warn his comrades that the Order had somehow developed a defense against their bread and butter.

"Hermione… how?" Remus asked from behind her, touching her shoulder.

She spun and glared at him, and then at Tonks as she moved forward to join her husband. "You idiots!" she shouted, seething. "You have a _son_. One of you better get your arse off this battlefield _right now_! Do you want Teddy to grow up and orphan like Harry did? If I had not been here, you _both_ would have been killed!"

The couple looked ashamed of themselves, but said nothing.

Hermione huffled. "Look, I know you want to do your part. Tonks, you could be helping in the hospital wing if you absolutely must stay. Remus, Minerva is struggling to keep the wards up right now. She could use a powerful wizard who knows warding like you do to help."

Remus nodded. "You're right, Hermione. Though gods, you sounded like Minerva just then – when did you start calling her by name, anyway?"

Hermione groaned loudly, thinking of the feelings she'd have to face when this night was finally over. A quick glance at her watch and she groaned again. "I have to get to Colin. We'll talk later."

To the Remus' surprise, Hermione planted a soft kiss on his cheek, breathing in his scent. She'd seen, touched, and cried over his corpse so many times. Of all the losses, he had hurt the worse. She looked at him like an older brother, and to feel him breathing gave her the courage to press on. She still had two more to save. "Stay safe," she whispered. "Death is not a good look for you, okay?"

"Do I have a reason to be worried?" Tonks asked in a teasing tone, and decidedly for Remus' benefit. The Auror knew exactly how Hermione felt about the man.

"You know you don't," Hermione grinned. "Gotta go."

And just like that, she was off again.

She still had enough time to get to the boy that Ron called _Harry's Shadow_. Hermione moved toward the Greenhouses, where Colin would inevitably follow Professor Sprout, only to get caught and killed by the traps she was about to set for the Death Eaters. Hermione shuddered as she thought of the loop where she'd found Pomona in an empty classroom off the Entrance Hall, sobbing over the boy's body. Hermione could not imagine the guilt the other woman had to have felt, seeing how her efforts to protect her students had turned into the death of one.

Hermione watched and waiting, eventually seeing Colin creeping up a few minutes after Pomona went by. She jumped out, grabbing the boy by the scruff of his robes. He let out an undignified squeak, and then relaxed when he saw who had grabbed him. "Oh, Hermione, it's just you," he sighed in relief. "I was just going after Professor Sprout – I want to help."

"She's just finished setting some traps for the Death Eaters," Hermione stated crisply. It was a good thing Remus wasn't here this time, to point out how like her Head of House she sounded. It wasn't Hermione's fault. She'd spent the equivalent of six months entirely in the woman's company, and seven years of seeing the woman weekly. It was bound to happen sometime! "If you go over there now, you could be killed by Devil's Snare or something like it."

Colin looked mortified. "Thanks for the warning, Hermione," he breathed out. "I'll just go back toward the Great Hall, see if they need help getting medical supplies ready. The Professors told me I could only stay if I kept away from the fighting. I'm trying, but blimey, there's a lot of Death Eaters here."

"Well, Merlin knows I wish I could, but I can't avoid the fighting. You get up to the Hospital Wing. Remind Professor Snape he has a potion to take in…" she paused, looking at the time. Just after eight thirty. "… half an hour," she finished.

Colin wrinkled his nose. "Isn't Snape one of the bad guys?"

"No," Hermione assured the younger Gryffindor. "He's been a spy for Dumbledore for over fifteen years. He had to pretend to dislike us. His best friend while he was at Hogwarts was Harry's mum, and so he's been protecting Harry all these years."

"Wow!" the boy exclaimed, eyes wide. "I'll head up right away!"

She saw him gripping his camera. "Oh, Colin?"

He'd begun to run away, but stopped and turned back to face her. "Yeah?"

"No pictures of Professor Snape," she urged him. "No one here will want to remember this day when it's finally over."

He nodded solemnly, then resumed his course. Hermione checked the time again. Eight forty. Time to get to Fred. Ron's older brother would survive nearly the entire battle,but be killed because he'd seen Voldemort fall before the Death Eater creeping up behind him did. Letting down his guard to watch history unfold had not been worth Fred's life. Not to his family.

Ten minutes later, Hermione took a seat near Fred's position in the courtyard, watching him effectively duel three different Death Eaters, disarming and binding each of them, before he paused.

" _Expelliarmus!_ " Hermione heard Harry shout, wand pointed at Voldemort. That was her cue. Lazily she flicked her wand, which had been pointed behind her, and a thud a few meters back let her know she'd hit her mark.

Moments later, cheers erupted, including those from Fred's mouth. Hermione looked around, and saw Remus and Tonks kissing. She saw Colin snapping pictures furiously, and Lavender hugging Dean Thomas. She rose silently and headed up the flight of stairs that would take her toward the hospital wing, intent on checking on Severus discreetly before finding a place to hide until it was time to meet up with her counter self.

Either time would reset, or it wouldn't. There was nothing to do but wait.

Severus was awake and reading the latest _Potioneer_ edition when Hermione glanced into Poppy's domain. She didn't dare enter with so many other people there. Severus she'd explain to when this was all over, and maybe a few others, but overall, she couldn't risk being seen two places at the same time.

Mind drifting to the next task at hand, should this time loop finally be over, Hermione made her way toward the old Transfiguration classroom. No one would be there, she figured, and it would be a good place for her to think. Hermione mused that she'd had more than enough time to do that, but for the first time in nearly eighteen months, she had hope of a tomorrow being there to plan for.

To the young woman's surprise, not only was someone already in the Transfiguration classroom, but it was the very woman Hermione had come to think about. "Minerva," she uttered in surprise.

The older witch looked up from her desk, where she'd been sitting with her head pressed to the cool, wooden surface. "Hermione," she greeted, seemingly not bothered by the use of her own name. "I know you're a dedicated student, but I'm afraid there's no class today."

Hermione laughed. "How about tomorrow?" she asked, half as a joke, and half just wanting some assurance that there ever would be a tomorrow.

Minerva smirked. "Not likely."

"But you'll be here, tomorrow," Hermione said, trying to make it sound like a statement, though again seeking some assurance that tomorrow was actually coming.

"Of course," came an easy reply from the Scottish witch. "Hermione, dear, please don't take this the wrong way, but why aren't you with your friends?"

Hermione looked at her Professor sadly. "I am," she replied.

Minerva looked at her with the same perplexed expression the younger woman imagined Severus had worn while she made her exit from the Boat House, but before the questions came, Hermione excused herself. "I'll see you tomorrow," she said quietly, before taking her leave.

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	2. Chapter 2

**Part two is a bit shorter than part one, though when I got to where I ended it, I decided it really was a great place to end, so end it did. This story is now COMPLETE. I hope you all enjoy.**

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Minerva McGonagall couldn't get _something_ out of her head, which as usual meant that she had a question she'd been unable to answer as of yet. When Hermione Granger had found her in the Transfiguration classroom, the older woman had been primarily surprised to see her cub without her two best friends, though in retrospect the first clue that something was off about Hermione's presence should have been in how she addressed her Professor. Perhaps, Minerva mused, it hadn't struck her because she'd always intended on pursuing friendship with the younger woman after she'd graduated, and at that point use of her first name would have been a given. That said, there'd be no time for forming friendships yet. Hermione had only just returned to the castle last evening - just in time for a horrific battle.

Of course, things could have been worse. There were casualties, of course, but aside from a couple of the older students who had remained behind despite the evacuation protocol, the only deaths had been Voldemort's supporters. Interestingly, the two close calls that Minerva had heard about from their side, Severus and Remus, both claimed that they would have fallen if not for the intervention of one Hermione Granger. Even more perplexing was that after finding that out last evening, an hour after the battle ended, Minerva had gone to Hermione to thank her for her help, only to have the young woman claim to have no idea what she was talking about.

Another thing that Minerva had realized in the eighteen hours since was that the Hermione she'd spoken to in the classroom and the Hermione she'd spoken to about assisting Severus and Remus seemed different. For one, they were wearing different clothing. Minerva considered that the brains of the Golden Trio might have changed between the two conversations, but that didn't seem right either. The clothing Hermione had worn in the classroom had been cleaner than the ones she'd been wearing when Minerva found her in the Great Hall later on. The opposite should have been the case if Hermione had changed to rid herself of the battle filth. Also, the Hermione she'd first spoken with seemed more haunted than the girl she'd spoke with later.

"Minerva, you're going to wear a hole in the carpet if you keep pacing like that."

 _Speak of the devil_ , Minerva chuckled to herself, turning around and seeing that Hermione had just entered her quarters. "How did you get in here?" she asked, knowing there was no way her student had her current password. Till yesterday, she'd not been in the castle all year, nor in contact with Minerva any other way.

"The password hasn't changed since you gave it to me yesterday," Hermione replied.

"I don't recall giving it to you then, either," the older woman countered.

"You wouldn't," she smirked.

"What is that supposed to mean, Miss Granger?" Minerva bristled. What exactly was this girl implying? That her memory had been erased? That she was getting _old_ and her memory failing? She was not _that_ old.

"Tell me, Minerva," Hermione said, taking a seat on the sofa, "Have you read the work of Shaun Ewe?"

"The inventor of the time turner?" Minerva asked, arms crossed defensively. "No, as his commentary on the subject is decidedly out of date. I know of _him_ , of course, but not any book he wrote."

Hermione nodded. "I never did ask you if you'd read _Timeless_ before. On the chance that you hadn't," she said, pulling a book out of her bag, "I brought it along with me."

Minerva took the proffered tome. "You do know the man was a bastard, right? This is honestly a book I've never been _inclined_ to read. He and Voldemort would have gotten on well."

Hermione shrugged. "Nonetheless, this book gave me the answer I needed. You see, he invented the time turner after his wife was murdered by a rival. He wanted to go back in time to save her, which he did, but the power behind the timeturner did corrupt him, at which point he became the man history remembers. He wasn't always that way."

Minerva looked startled. "I had no idea."

"Of course not. Few people do."

"Why is this relevant to the question of how you came by my password?" the older woman asked, still vexed that someone could just waltz into her quarters. Granted, it _was_ Hermione who was always decidedly welcome, but the sense of violation still stung.

"When Ewe created the time turner," Hermione began in explanation, lecture voice on full throttle, "The user's intention, their desire for what the wished to change, was pivotal to the travel. Later, charms would take the place of intent, but then, focused intent was required, much like in apparation today. Minerva, I know your password because for the equivalent of the last eighteen months, I've been stuck in a time loop of six hours. It began after I fell on the time turner you gave me, shortly after the battle began. Those six hours over and over and over again…"

Minerva frowned, seeing the pained expression on the younger woman's face. She looked haunted, much like she had in the classroom last evening, and rightly so if what she was saying was true. She couldn't imagine living last night's battle again and again, and not being able to…

"Hermione," she whispered, understanding dawning on her. "You changed things, didn't you?"

"Only because there was no other choice," the brunette admitted with a sigh. "When the loop began, my thought, my desire at that moment, was that those I cared for would live out the night. In the original timeline, Remus and Tonks, Severus, Lavender Brown, Fred Weasley, and Colin Creevy all fell in battle. After reading Shaun Ewe's book, during the loops you were helping me research a way to break the cycle, you suggested that if I saved those I cared for, the loop may end, per Ewe's original design for the device."

Minerva nodded, agreeing with her own assessment. "Remus says you blocked a killing curse he stepped in front of. I would assume coming up with a way to do that – quite a feat; I must commend you – was why you were… _looping_ so long."

"Correct. It took almost six months of research," she replied. "Honestly, I'm torn on if I should market the spell or not. It could save hundreds of lives, should a dark wizard ever come to power again…"

"Sadly, that is likely to happen…" Minerva cut in.

"... but on the other hand, I may never have bothered to create the spell if I'd not had the need to. I feel almost dishonest in its creation."

"I suspect that had you discovered Remus and Tonks had been felled by it, even after the fact you would have researched to save others in the future," the elder witch said to her pupil. "I think it's worth sharing, though I'd wait awhile before marketing it, as coming out with it now, after a year on the run and only six years at Hogwarts as a student, the how you came by it may bring unwanted questions. I don't want to see you go to Azkaban for misuse of a time turner."

"Nor do I wish to go there," Hermione agreed. "That's sound advice. I _have_ told Severus what happened already - I trust him to keep the information to himself. Remus, too."

"Why them?"

"Both know I interfered just in time to save their lives, using means that I should not have had. For Remus, the spell to block the killing curse, and for Severus, the exact antidote to counter Nagini's poison, on hand minutes before he would have otherwise died. Both are too smart to have not questioned. In the case of Lavender and Colin, my saving them could have been a simple matter of right time, right place. For Tonks, she didn't see how I saved she and Remus, just that I did. In Fred's case, he had no idea he'd ever been in danger."

Minerva shook her head, blown away at the feat Hermione was describing. "You are an incredible witch, you know that?"

"The answer to how to break the loop was your idea. I actually… never mind."

A blush formed on Hermione's cheeks, obviously embarrassed by whatever she'd just been about to say. "What?"

"I kissed you when you suggested it," Hermione muttered, looking at her feet.

"You did _what?_ "

Hermione pointed to her own lips. "I kissed you. Here."

"Well that makes it even better!" Minerva exclaimed, though she had already assumed as much. Hermione wouldn't have been blushing if it had been a kiss on the cheek.

"You seemed rather shocked at the time, and I kind of ran off before you could react," the younger woman admitted. "By the time I saw you again it was the next loop, and as far as you were aware, it had never happened."

"And your reason for telling me about it now?"

Minerva was experiencing a bout of mixed feelings at the present. On a very basic, carnal level, the idea that Hermione might be sexually attracted to her was flattering at the least, and appealing if she was very honest with herself. On the other hand, the teacher in her very much wanted Hermione to come back to Hogwarts in September to finish her education, and new she could not become involved with a student. On the other hand, Hermione could take her NEWTS right now and still score higher than every student in Hogwarts, so why _would_ she return for the formality? On the other hand, she was not inclined to be a source of ridicule toward this young woman. On the other hand… _THERE WAS NO OTHER HAND!_ Minerva chastised herself for even trying to justify being _happy_ about Hermione's interest in her.

Of course, Hermione's answer to her question threatened to completely destroy Minerva's resolve in turning the beautiful young woman away, no matter what.

"As I realized after I kissed you," she whispered, "after six months of working with you to try and find a way to break the loop, I'd fallen in love with you."

Minerva gulped. "Hermione…" she said weakly.

"I hope you know I don't expect you to return that feeling," she added quickly. "But after watching so many people, over and over, die before getting to say that thing they wish they had… I couldn't just _not tell you_. I'm not asking for anything… I just needed you to know."

"I can't pretend to understand what you went through," she finally replied. "But I do know what it means to lose someone before getting a chance to tell them how I felt…"

"Albus," Hermione stated.

"I take it we've talked about Albus and I?" Minerva questioned.

The younger witch nodded. "We talked about a lot of things."

Minerva sighed. "Hardly seems fair that you now know so much of me, when outside of academics, I know so little of you."

"What do you want to know?" Hermione asked.

The Scottish witch contemplated the question. Did she want to know about Hermione's friends, her family? Did she want to know what the younger woman liked, and the things she outright hated? Did she want to know what Hermione's lips tasted like? Did she want to know Hermione's body as well as she knew her own? "Everything," Minerva spoke aloud, both to herself and the woman sitting beside her. "I want to know everything."

"Everything is quite a lot," the younger witch said pointedly. "Would you like an autobiography, or was there something in particular you wanted to know from the off?"

Minerva thought back at the questions that had rolled through her mind moments before. "I want to know what your lips taste like," she admitted with a blush.

Hermione smiled brightly. "By all means, Minerva. Do come find out."

With a smile and a firm mental note to herself to give the idea of being with Hermione a chance before she ran out of chances to be happy, Minerva leaned in and kissed the woman sitting beside her.

She'd worry about tomorrow, tomorrow.

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